Saturday, December 20, 2008

Types of Food Storage - Dehydrated Foods

When dehydrating food, water is slowly removed from the fruit, vegetable or meat without actually cooking the food item. Essentially, the moisture content of the food item is significantly reduced, hence the term dehydrated. There are three basic methods used in dehydrating foods.

The different types are air-dried, sun-dried, or kiln-dried. Food items can be easily sun-dried at home. The air-dried or kiln-dried methods require additional equipment. All of these methods are very cost efficient for storing your food items. Once your food items have been dried, they will then need to be stored in airtight containers. The containers are normally packed with an oxygen absorber. The oxygen absorber will effectively remove the oxygen, leaving only nitrogen in the container.

Advantages

1.) Dehydrated foods are generally lower in cost than freeze-dried foods.

2.) Dehydrated food is more compact which allows more food to be stored in a container.

3.) Dehydrated food can be dried at home with simple equipment or sun-dried.

Disadvantages

1.) Dehydrated food loses some of its texture when dried.

2.) Dehydrated foods incur some loss of taste compared to freeze-dried.

3.) You will need a machine to create an air tight seal for best storage results.

4.) Long term storage requires the addition of an oxygen absorber.

Each method of food storage has distinctly different advantages and disadvantages. You should be the one to make the final decision about which method of food storage will best suit your needs and the needs of your family.

This is only a basic overview of some of the advantages and disadvantages of dehydrated foods. Should you decide this is the proper type for your food storage program, you should do additional research and become familiar with all the different aspects of dehydrated food.

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi RW! Where can you get the oxygen absorber's?

riverwalker said...

To:anonymous

Just do a google search for "oxygen absorbers for food storage" and take your pick. They're a pretty basic type item.
Thanks.

RW

Anonymous said...

Hi RW
Saw a tip on the side of your site about homemade oxygen absorber's.Steel wool,salt,in a napkin. I was a little concerned about the steel wool in a napkin wearing thru if handle's rough.How about putting all this into a little pill bottle with a couple of hole's punched in,top with cotton or a gauge pad.Nothing to spill,tear,or break,and just refill and reuse!
Dean

riverwalker said...

To: Dean

Pill bottle might be too small to securely deplete the oxygen.Try this.

Take zip-lock bag and punch numerous small holes in it with an ice pick or other sharp pointed object. Take a paper towel, lay it flat, sprinkle with salt (rock salt is OK), then fold paper towel in half, place steel wool on paper towel, fold paper towel over steel wool and then place in zip-lock bag. Place zip-lock bag in bucket. Takes a minute or two.Hope this helps.

RW

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